Bridging the Theological and the Mundane

Michael Jinkins, President of Louisville Theological Seminary writes in the Christian Century about formative moments for faith at an early age. He writes about Matthew 6:34 “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” It had been the text of a Sunday sermon when he was a young boy. On the way to the car after the service he asked his mother what it meant. Her response, “hummm, I guess it means that Jesus doesn’t want us to worry about the future, there’s enough for us to worry about today.” Jinkins later realized that it was from such encounters that he learned from his mother how to bridge the mundane and the theological.

All of us know much about the mundane aspects of life, from making the bed in the morning, brushing your teeth, to turning out lights when you leave a room. Yet how do we move toward seeing in the mundane an opportunity to experience grace? This Lent, I am seeking to slow down my pace a bit and be open to experiencing God’s presence as I straighten the sheets and move through the mundane parts of my life. Perhaps it is too much to expect an epiphany.  But Moses was only doing the routine, the mundane stuff of life when he encountered the burning bush. At the very least I hope to sense anew in everyday activities the words of Karl Jung, “bidden or not bidden God is present.”

Fr. Showers

Trauma and Grace

I too am alternately mesmerized and repelled by the tragic news from Japan, which for me is intensely personal. In the past I have always associated Japan with experiences of grace, not tragedy. As a college student, I lived there for a year which profoundly shaped my life. Since then I have been blessed by over 50 years of close friendship with three generations of the Japanese family with whom I lived near Tokyo, visiting them in Japan several times (most recently last Easter with my daughter, for my Japanese goddaughter’s wedding celebration), and welcoming them when they visit us here. All the family is now well and safe following the earthquake and tsunami, thank God. But the continuing nuclear crisis causes ongoing anxiety and uncertainty.

Each day as I read the papers, listen to the news, and pray for Japan, I’ve been trying to imagine what it must be like for the thousands of people who in a single moment lost their homes and most or all of their possessions, and are now cold and hungry in shelters, fearing that nuclear fallout will be the next Plague to befall them. And I’ve wondered how they can not only survive physically but transcend these traumas emotionally and be able to move on with their lives.

So last week when a friend sent me a book called Trauma and Grace, it immediately became my Lenten reading. It was written by Dr. Serene Jones, President and Professor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. It is a series of essays written over about ten years in which she uses the lenses of trauma theory and theology to help her understand the impact of various kinds of severe trauma experienced by friends and students, and how individuals and communities can best support people who have experienced such trauma. I find the book compelling as I ponder the impact of multiple traumas on so many Japanese and look for glimpses of hope. What sort of resurrection might possibly emerge from such suffering? How might it come about? Jones helps me put my concerns and questions into a Biblical and theological context in ways I find illuminating. If you’re interested, the book is available on Amazon and other online bookstores.

Nancy Warren